This article makes an assumption of which the majority of economists are guilty: that all work is paid work. One might call this bias 'jobism'. If a person has a full-time job, everyone knows that he/she receives some form of remuneration, whether it is livable or not.
Yet an increasing number of people (27% of Canadians in 2000) work up to and beyond the equivalent of a full-time job. They receive no money at all for it. These are the volunteers who form the backbone of every community, many of whom live below the poverty line. They clean out bed pans, prepare meals, visit the sick and elderly, do research, write books, manage non-profits...
In a society in which the buck has become the almighty, what volunteers do is deemed valueless, although it generates in productivity the equivalent of $12 billion per year. Whereas work done at a local coffee shop 'contributes to society', presumably because employees pay taxes.
Just imagine what would happen if Canada's volunteers quit and substituted their unpaid work for paid work. Our communities - and economy - would collapse.
A living wage is not the answer. At minimum, we need a livable income for every man, woman and child in the country. This is only a first step. In the end, we must rethink the entire market system, which has elevated the buck to godlike status
Ocean, Coordinator,
Wellbeing through Inclusion Socially & Economically
www.wise-bc.org
Co-Leader.
FemINist INitiative of BC.
www.feministinitiative.bc.ca
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posted 08 August 2005 05:18 PM
